Code Lyoko: A Test of True Strength
by BrixtaSparks
Summary: Within the virtual world of Lyoko, a dangerous force lies, and it's up to four young teens to save both what's real, and what's not.
1. The Old Factory

Chapter One: The Old Factory

It was a beautiful day for the students of Kadics Boarding School.

"You know that was a particularly enriching lesson." A boy named Jeremie Belpois said as he and his friends walked out the door of the school. Jeremie had blonde hair and wore circular glasses. His usual attire was a light blue long sleeved sweater, with a pair of tan kakis, and a pair of light blue tennis shoes.

"Well of course you'd think that the lesson was enriching, you're very easily the smartest person at this school!" Another boy said, his name was Ulrich Stern. He had brown hair, and normally wore a light green shirt, with an olive green jacket and jeans.

"Yeah, Jeremie! You're basically the next Einstein! You know more than the teachers do most likely!" A boy named Odd Della Robbia exclaimed as he put a hand on Jeremie's shoulder. Odd, too, had blonde hair, but the tiniest section of his hair had ben dyed purple. He usually wore a hot pink shirt, with a long sleeved purple shirt over the pink. He wore a pair of jeans that were half violet in color while the other half was purple. "I mean look at Herb. He's always trying to beat you at anything and everything! Remember the robot wars every year? Name one time where Herb has actually one without cheating?"

"Oh, come on guys! I'm not that smart!" Jeremie pleaded, blushing a brilliant shade of pink.

"Jeremie, Odd's right! You truely are the next Einstein! You're a true genius!" A girl named Yumi Ishiyama said as she adjusted the strap on her backpack. She normally wore a black long sleeved sweater, which fell a few inches above her belly button, and she also wore a pair of black skinny jeans.

"Hey, Jeremie, Aelita even says that you're a genius!" Ulrich said as he and his friends headed towards the forest, which was located on the outskirts of the school.

"If I'm so smart, then tell me, why haven't I defragmented and debugged Aelita's materialization code? And...if I were nearly as smart as you say I am, then Aelita would be here. And not in Lyoko." Jeremie said as he hung his head in despair. "I'm nothing. I'm even beginning to wonder if materializing Aelita is, well, even possible."

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Jeremie! What you're doing is no easy task! You can't just expect to crack the code over night! It'll take time, sure, but the time that we wait will be all worth while! You'll see. We have faith in you." Odd said as he and his friends stopped in a little clearing. He looked down and saw the same old sewage cover as he'd seen a dozen times before. With a firm grip, he knelt down and took hold of the cover, and with a little effort, he carefully lifted it and laid it to the side.

"Thanks Odd...Hey, Ulrich..." Jeremie said as he began to descend the ladder that was attached to the concrete walling that was usually concealed by the cover.

"Yeah Einstein?"

"Did Aelita really say that I was a genius?" Jeremie asked as once again, he turned a bright shade of pink.

"Why do you even ask question like that, Jeremie? We thought that by now you would've realized what the answer to that is! Of course she thinks that you're a genius, Jeremie! Aelita even thinks of you as her savior! She adores you!" Ulrich answered as he too descended the ladder.

When everyone had climbed down the ladder, they all walked over to the wall closest to them. There they found their forms of transportations. Jeremie grabbed his scooter, while Ulrich, Odd and Yumi each grabbed a skateboard. As soon as they'd settled themselves onto their rides, they set off. Ulrich, followed closely by Yumi and Odd. Jeremie trailing behind at his own leisurely pace.

About five minutes into the sewers Yumi slowed down to Jeremie's speed. "You know X.A.N.A.'s been quiet here lately. A little too quiet, don't you think?"

"I'm glad that I'm not the only one to have noticed that. But yes, X.A.N.A. has been a little too quiet for my taste. There hasn't been any tower activations in weeks! I can't sleep when X.A.N.A.'s awake, or even when he's asleep!" Jeremie said as they continued into the sewers.

"Jeremie, when was the last time you got a decent nights sleep? Five days tops? Jeremie, we're losing you!" Yumi said as she and Jeremie both stopped.

"You're not losing me, I'm right here." He said as Ulrich and Odd stopped too.

"You know, Jeremie, here lately, asll that you've been doing in your free time is talking to us, doing your homework, talking with Aelita, or working on the materialization code. All tht we're telling you to do is to take a break. That's all. We need you. If you're not around, who's going to transport us to Lyoko when X.A.N.A. wakes up? We can't work the Super Computer." Ulrich said as Jeremie began to look down at his shoes.

Slowly, he nodded, "Maybe you guys are right. It's just that where I've never been closer to getting the materialization progam fixed. I'm almost there, I can feel it! It's justthat I keep missing something...But I promise that I'll take it easy."

"Great well let's go. Hey Ulrich, have you heard the latest about Sissi Delmas?" Odd asked as he rode side by side with Ulrich.

"No, and I don't think I want to know. But you're going to tell me anyway, aren't you?" Ulrich asked as Odd nodded his head.

"Of course!"

"Well, what is it then?"

"Well Milly Solovieff and Tamiya Diop told Emile Leduc who told Hedi Klinger who told Moemie N'Guyen and me that Sissi's going to try and drag you away tomorrow after physics, and well, she's going to try and trick you into kissing her!" Odd said as he cracked a smile.

"Really? Well sorry to disappoint her, but that's not going to happen. So she can keep dreaming." Ulrich said as a scornful look began to spread across his face.

"When will Sissi learn?" Odd asked as the end of the tunnel came into view.

"I don't know, but that would just take the fun right out of life. Sissi asking Ulrich out, Ulrich refusing, and Sissi goes off to figure out a new scheme to get Ulrich." Yumi said as she and her friends all began laughing.

"True, very true. Wow! Life's great!" Odd said as they reached the very end of the tunnel. Jeremie was the first to climb the ladder, a ladder that led to a bridge that had been built right over a river.

"You know, one of these days, someone's going to follow us here. And with our luck, it'll be Jim that follows us!" Jeremie said as he walked to the edge of the bridge, leaning against its railing.

"That's why we have to be careful! We can't just go around yelling our heads off about Aelita, Lyoko or about the factory. If we did then the first thing that people would do would be to send us to the closest psychiatric hospital! And then we'd never see Aelita again, and X.A.N.A. would have free reign, but thankfully we take things very carefully!" Ulrich said as Yumi and Odd nodded their heads in agreement.

"You know it's been nearly two years since we first met Aelita?" Jeremie asked as he and his friends walked through the open doorway that led into the broken down factory.

"Really? It doesn't seem it." Yumi sighed, as one by one they each grabbed hold of a rope that had been tied to the rafters along the ceiling.

"Out of the way!" Odd yelled as he slid down one of the ropes, "You know, no matter how many times I do that, it's still just as fun!"

"Odd, for you everything is fun." Ulrich said as he too slid down one of the ropes.

"But that's why you love me, huh, Ulrich?" Odd asked as they walked over to the elevator that was to their right.

"Yeah, whatever Odd. I'll love you even more when I can get a good night's sleep without your snoring!" Ulrich then began imitating Odd's snoring.

"I don't snore!"

"Oh yeah? Just like you're not scrawny?"

"I am not scrawny! I'm just svelte! And anyway, I'm telling you, I don't snore!"

"Oh, so I suppose that it's Kiwi, huh?" Ulrich asked as Jeremie and Yumi stepped into the elevator.

"I don't know, Ulrich. All I know is: that it's not me!"

"Will they ever get along for ten minutes?" Yumi asked Jeremie as he pushed the button on a keypad on the elevators' wall. The button that he pressed allowed them all to travel a few floors below where they already were.

"Ah, no. But if they did, then they wouldn't be Ulrich and Odd, now would they?"

"I guess you're right, Jeremie."

When the elevator had descended a few floors, Jeremie keyed in the code '426' into the keypad. The door opened with a loud creak, and when they'd opened completely, they all saw a marvelous sight.

A giant Super Computer with a holomap of another world.

Jeremie walked over to a chair that was attached to the Super Computer, sat down in it, and it automatically began to rotate around the computer. When the chair had came to a stop, Jerremie found himself facing the keyboard to the powerful computer. Immediately, Jeremie began typing. About a minute later, he picked up a headset that had been lain beside the computer.

"Aelita, it's Jeremie! Aelita, do you read me?" Jeremie asked as a girls' face appeared on the computers' monitor.

_"Hi, how are you?"_

"Hi, Aelita. We're fine, how about you?" Jeremie asked Aelita, a girl that had hot pink hair, pointed ears that resembeled an elves', one ear peirced with a spherical earring that was pink with a little ring of silver at the top.

_"Oh, I'm fine. There's been no pulsations here on Lyoko. X.A.N.A. seems to be stable, but that doesn't mean he's not creating a plot. You know that that's true. We all do. It's only a matter of time before X.A.N.A. launches an attack on Lyoko and your world." _Aelita said as she closed her eyes.

"You know, Aelita's right. Time is not in our favor for this one. X.A.N.A. has got the upper hand. Okay, Aelita, keep an eye open for any pulsations. If you notice anything, contact me right away. Don't wait, because this attack of X.A.N.A.'s is going to be extremely dangerous...If not deadly." Jeremie said as he launched a scan for any activated towers in Lyoko. "Nothing yet, but it won't be long before X.A.N.A. rears his evil head."

"So what do we do Jeremie? I mean, how can we defeat something that we can't even see?" Odd yelled, throwing his hands up in despair.

Jeremie shook his head. "We do nothing. You said it yourself. We can't beat something that we can't even see...There really is nothing that can be done. Anyway, we can't worry about X.A.N.A. right now, we have an exam in Mrs. Hertz's science class!"

_"Jeremie, what's an exam?" _Aelita asked as Jeremie got up to leave.

"Well an exam is a test on paper. They're used to see how much any one person knows. Only we people have a limited amount of memory. And compared to you, our hard drive runs a little short. Well anyway, we'd better be going. I'll contact you at 1600 hours universal time. Don't forget to keep an eye out for X.A.N.A." Jeremie said as he, Yumi, Ulrich and Odd all got up to leave.

_"Okay, Jeremie. Good luck with your exams. See you later."_

"Bye Aelita." Jeremie said as Aelita disappeared from the computer's moniter. After logging off of the computer, Jeremie and his friends all got back to the elevator. None of them knowing what dangers might lie ahead.


	2. Working on a Code

Chapter Two: Working on a Code

"I just wish I knew what X.A.N.A. was up to." Ulrich said as they stepped out of the old factory. "I'll feel a whole lot better when I knew what he's got in store for us."

"Yeah." Yumi said just as they each climbed down the ladder and into the sewers once more.

"Well we have an exam to take, and we can't be late to class. Mrs. Hertz said that this test will be 10% of our final grades." Jeremies said as he took hold of the handlebars of his scooter.

The ride back to the school was quiet, as Ulrich, Odd and Jeremie all prepared themselves for the approaching exam.

When they finally reached the school, Yumi said, "I'll see you guys later. I have to get to Mr. Fumet's history class. See you."

"Bye, Yumi." Ulrich said as Odd and Jeremie simply waved.

Jeremie, Odd and Ulrich continued to Mrs. Hertz's science class, and they had barely taken their seats when the final bell rang.

"Good afternoon, class! As you all should know by now, today you have an exam. I hope that you all are well prepared for it. Seeing as you've had two weeks to study up, and review all of your notes. But enough talk, take out your pencils. When all of the exams have been handed out, all talk should cease. You will have a total of two hours to finish your exam. And when you do complete it, you are free to go back to your dorms. Okay, all exams are out. You may begin...now!" Mrs. Hertz said as there was a sound of exam booklets opening.

When Jeremie had opened his exam, the very first question that he read was, _"What is the chemical formula for Nitrous Oxide, or more commonly known, Laughing Gas?"_

_"This is too easy," _Jeremie thought as he wrote down the answer, N2O.

After about an hour and thirty minutes, Jeremie had finished his test, and remembering what the teacher had said, he got up, and walked up to Mrs. Hertz's desk.

"All finished, Jeremie?"

"Yes, ma'am." Jeremie said when he turned in his completely finished test.

"Okay, Jeremie, you may go back to your dorm."

Going back to his seat, Jeremie sat down. Then taking out two sheets of paper he addressed one to Ulrich and the other to Odd. All that he wrote on them was: _Meet me after the exam!_

He slid the two sheets toward Odd and Ulrich who took the papers and put them into their pockets. Then getting up, he walked towards the classroom door. When, "Oh, Jeremie, before I forget, here's your hall pass. You'll need it if you get stopped in the hall."

"Thank you, Mrs. Hertz." Jeremie whispered as he took it.

In the hall, Jeremie walked up the stairs that led to the boys' dorm.

"Jeremie Belpois! Do you mind telling me why you're out of class?" A voice sounded from right behind Jeremie. And when Jeremie turned around, he wasn't at all surprised to see that it was Jim Morales.

"Hello, Jim. I was just on my way to my dorm."

"And why?" Jim questioned.

"Well I finished my science exam thirty minutes early. And Mrs. Hertz said that if we finished our exams, then we could go back to our dorms."

"Yeah, my eye. What's the real reason that you're out of class?"

"I already told you, Jim. I even have a hall pass." Jeremie said as he handed Jim the hall pass that Mrs. Hertz had given him.

"Good enough, now get to your dorm, and don't let me catch you walking the halls until classes are over? Do you understand me?"

"Yes, sir." Jeremie responded as Jim handed the hall pass back to him.

"Good, now get going!"

With the warning Jeremie raced off to his dorm. Once outside his dorm room, he pulled out his dorm key and fitted the key into the lock on the door. With a turn of his wrist, Jeremie was in his room, and he locked it back as soon as he was in. After about ten minutes of lying on his bed, Jeremie looked over at his computer. Getting up he walked over to it, and sat down at his student desk.

"Aelita, it's Jeremie, again. Do you read me, Aelita?"

_"Hi Jeremie, how was your exam?"_

"Oh it was okay."

_"Where are the others?"_

"They're still finishing their exams. I just got done early. So I cam back to my dorm." Jeremies said as he opened a computer program that made a little digital picture of Aelita to appear on the screen.

_"Jeremie, is there something on your mind?"_ Aelita asked, and he noticed that she looked worried.

"Well in a way, there is. Do you think that I'm smart enough to defragment the materialization program?"

_"Of course you are, Jeremie! I have faith in you! You've just got to believe in your own abilities, Jeremie!"_ Aelita said with a smile.

"Okay, Aelita, I'm going to try something real quick. So don't go anywhere."

_"Alright, Jeremie."_

"Okay, let's see...Hmmm...That file doesn't have the bug, Aelita, do you have access to files on my computer?" Jeremie asked as he exited out of one file and opened up another.

_"Yes, why? Do you need help with something?"_

"Yes, I need help checking all the files from the materialization program. I need to pinpoint exactly where the problem is. So could you help me run full scans on the files?" Jeremie asked as he ran another scan.

_"Yes, Jeremie."_

"If you find the problem, alert me right away."

_"I will."_

"Okay. Hey I don't remember this file ever being here. This has got to be it!" Jeremie said as he ran a complete scan on the foreign file. While the scan was running, someone knocked on the door.

"Jeremie, it's us! Can we come in?"

"Hold on, Ulrich!" Jeremie got up and went to go unlock the door. "Hey Ulrich, Yumi. Where's Odd?"

"He went to go feed Kiwi. He said he'll be here as soon as he can." Ulrich said while Jeremie went back to his computer.

"Hey Jeremie, you promised us you'd take it easy."

"I will, but come here! I think that I've found the bug."

"Really! You mean...we'll be able to shut down X.A.N.A. soon?" Yumi asked as she sat down on Jeremie's bed.

"Yeah, now all I've got to do is find the anti-virus. And that may take a while. Wait! Let me try something!" Jeremie said typing in what he believed to be the possible anti-virus. "It's going to work! It's working! It worked!" Jeremie yelled and jumped to his feet. "It worked!"

"Yes!" Yumi exclaimed as she jumped up as well to her feet. "I can't believe it!" She yelled throwing her arms around Ulrich's neck and kissing his cheek.

Speechless for a moment, Ulrich slowly recovered, "Yeah, way to go, Einstein! Now will you be able to materialize Aelita?"

"Not quite. Now I've got to run a test on the materialization program. Okay, Aelita, you can stop running scans. I found the problem. I'm going to test the program now." Jueremie said as he sat back down at his computer. "Let's see. The last code that I tried looked like it worked, despite the virus, so I'll try that."

He then started typing in the code for the materialization.

_"Code: EARTH"_

Ulrich and Yumi crossed their fingers while Jeremie pressed the enter key, once again, a little digital photo of Aelita popped up onto the moniter.

And closing his eyes, Jeremie heard a faint ding and reopened them. He saw a green checkmark. "It worked! I can hardly believe it! It really did work!"

"I'll call Odd." Ulrich said as he pulled his cell phone out, "Odd. Get to Jeremie's room, now! We've got to celebrate...no I won't tell you what we're celebrating until you get here!" He hung up and whispered, "He's on his way."

A few minutes passed by, when Odd walked into Jeremie's room, "What's going on?"

"Hold on. Aelita?"

_"Yes?"_

"I don't know how to tell you this, but...we're waiting for you here!"

_"Really? You mean that I'll soon live on your world?" _Aelita asked, exasperated.

"Yes!" Jeremie said, and Ulrich, Odd and Yumi all picked him up and placed him onto their shoulders.

"Yeah!"

_"Oh I just can't believe it! Oh, just think me and you will actually be able to touch, and maybe even kiss." _Aelita said as Jeremie was set back on the ground.

"Well, I'm sure we could, but...ah..." Jeremie stammered turning a bright shade of pink.

"You can do that, but first you have to be materialized into our world. Jeremie, do you want us to take the final plunge right now?" Ulrich asked Jeremie, who was still blushing.

"Not yet, we still have to enroll her into our school, we have to create a false identity for her, as well as a fake family."

"Leave the enrollment to Ulrich and me. I can say that Aelita is my very close cousin from Holland. Her name can be Aelita...Aelita...Aelita Lyoko. There we go!" Odd said matter-of-factly.

"Okay, but still I want to wait to take the plunge until tomorrow. Aelita, if you can get to the passage tower in the forest region. And after class tomorrow, we'll travel to the factory, and you'll take your first steps on earth." Jeremie said as he began digging through a pile of CD disc that were blank.

_"Okay, Jeremie, I'm off."_

"Okay, Aelita, we'll see you tomorrow." Jeremie said as Aelita set off for the nearest passage tower. "I'm going to download the code onto this disc for easy access, I can't believe that it's almost over!"

"Yeah, we know what you mean. Two years of fighting against X.A.N.A., and two years of travelling to and from Lyoko. Helping Aelita get to the activated towers." Yumi said as tears of happiness came to her eyes. "It's almost over!"

"Yeah, Lyoko was like a second home to us." Odd said as he flopped down on Jeremie's bed. "But it'll be nice to be able to live normal lives again."

"Well it's time for dinner." Ulrich said, checking the time on his wrist watch.

Jeremie and his friends all got up and walked to the door, Jeremie being the last out of the room. And with one last look at his computer, Jeremie locked his room.


End file.
